It may be cold outside, but there’s one hell of an atmosphere…

Great Britain has a stellar science fiction heritage: what we may lack in quantity, we make up for in quality. The most famous of our home-grown science fiction offerings is of course Doctor Who, which will be celebrating its fiftieth birthday next year and spawned the Torchwood TV series, which went on to become a great show in its own right. As well as Doctor Who, there has been the smegging awesome sci-fi/comedy series Red Dwarf, which recently finished filming its tenth season. Also, how could we forget the legend that is Thunderbirds (okay, the abysmal live action film was forgettable), as well as Gerry Anderson’s other TV shows such as Terrahawks and Stingray. More recently, we have also seen the remake of the 80′s post-apocalyptic drama Survivors, as well as the excellent SF-dramas Primeval and Outcasts.

Celebrating the very best in our science-fiction heritage, the National Space Centre will be hosting a weekend dedicated to science fiction made in the UK. The weekend will include everything from the puppets that brought to life Gerry Anderson’s vision of the future, through the years of hiding behind the sofa from the Daleks and Cybermen, to the monsters from Primeval. They can all be found at the Brit SciFi weekend on 10th and 11th March.

Guests for Brit SciFi include Chris Barrie (on Saturday), who is best known as Arnold Judas Rimmer from Red Dwarf. Sharp-eyed viewers will also know him as Hilary (Lara Croft’s butler – and who wouldn’t want to be when she was played by Angelina Jolie? – in the Tomb Raider movies), and to many he will be Gordon Brittas, the most irritating manager in the leisure centre industry.

Also appearing on Saturday will be the sixth Doctor, Colin Baker. Colin is the only Doctor actor to have previously appeared in the show as another character (he actually shot the fifth Doctor, Peter Davidson!).

Finally on Saturday there will be Fraser Hines, who played Jamie McCrimmon, the long-suffering companion of the Second Doctor (played by Patrick Troughton). Fraser’s career as a companion lasted for a staggering 117 episodes of Doctor Who, more than any other in the history of the series.

Sunday will be Thunderbirds day, where the Brit SciFi weekend will be dedicated to the Gerry Anderson classics. Guest stars for Sunday include the man himself, Gerry Anderson; creator of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Space 1999, Stingray, Terrahawks and many more. Appearing alongside Gerry will be Shane Rimmer (voice actor for Scott Tracy), Matt Zommerman (Alan Tracy), and David Graham (Gordon Tracy/Brains/Parker).

Throughout the weekend there will also be, in addition to the guest stars, visual effects designer Mat Irvine. Mat is a long-time designer with the BBC Visual Effects Department, and well-known for his work on Doctor Who and Blake’s 7. and will be bringing a selection of his original props from these iconic shows that he has worked on (including The K-9 from Doctor Who).

In addition to the guest stars and panels, the Hyde Fund-Raisers will be taking over the Challenger Centre for Brit SciFi. Here you will be able to experience an awesome Walk-Through which brings together all of our Doctor Who nightmares. This time there will be no sofa to hide behind!

Showcasing both original and home built designs, a display of props and costumes will be on show throughout the weekend. Also to hand will be the experts who made them, and they will be more than happy to talk about their props and offer advice on how to make your own blaster!

Finally, if that wasn’t enough, Brit SciFi will also host a plethora of costumers – from Doctors to Captain Jack. It has been rumoured that a battalion of Daleks might be there. Of course, this could just be a rumour…

Source : http://www.spacecentre.co.uk/Page.aspx/381/BritSciFi/